UW-L gets ready for a big track meet, 30 years ago

In the spring of 1990, the university was preparing to host the WIAA state high school track meet for the first time, the weekend after Memorial Day.  La Crosse was expecting 1700 athletes and thousands of spectators at Memorial Field.  The track finals were being moved from the Madison area, where they had been held for many years.  Was the move a success?  Well, La Crosse has hosted the state meet ever since.  

Minneapolis was getting ready for a visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife.  Gorbachev was visiting Washington for a summit meeting with President Bush, after which he would travel to Minnesota at the invitation of Governor Rudy Perpich.  The brief trip by the Gorbachevs included a motorcade which passed by the state capitol in St. Paul.   

ABC announced it would air a special summer series of ‘Super Jeopardy’ games, featuring big champions from the first six years of the Alex Trebek version of the game show.  On June 1st of that year, a contestant from La Crosse appeared on Jeopardy–a radio guy named Brad.   I didn’t win, but I did get a week-long trip to Boston.  Game show fame in 1990…what is Yesterday in La Crosse?